Nikkei up as Fujitsu, Softbank gain, KDDI falls

Tokyo, Oct 24: The Nikkei share average rose 0.30 percent on Tuesday as Fujitsu Ltd. gained after lifting its half-year profit forecast by 45 percent, while Softbank Corp.

climbed after it said it will offer cheaper cellphone services than its competitors.

Shares of Softbank rival KDDI Corp. dropped more than 4 percent as investors worried about the impact of increased competition in the sector, while Kao Corp. dropped after it cut its earnings outlook.

''It looks like we can have positive expectations for midterm earnings results,'' said Toshihiko Matsuno, assistant general manager of investment research at SMBC Friend Securities.

''However, stock prices have also risen quite a bit lately, so I do wonder how much results are already factored into stock prices.'' The Nikkei was 49.68 points higher at 16,838.50 as of 0057 GMT. The broader TOPIX index was up 0.48 percent at 1,667.36 Fujitsu Ltd. gained 2.5 percent to 1,037 yen after the electronics firm said on Monday it expects its half-year group operating profit to be about 50.6 billion yen, up 45 percent from its July forecast.

Softbank rose 1.5 percent to 2,725 yen. The company said on Monday it would offer cheaper cellphone fees than its rivals and was willing to cut prices further to compete.

Shares of its competitors fell however, with KDDI Corp.

sliding 4.5 percent to 749,000 yen and NTT DoCoMo Inc. declining 2.7 percent to 183,000 yen.

Kao Corp. dropped 4 percent to 3,100 yen after Japan's biggest household products maker booked an 8 percent decline in first-half profit on costs related to acquiring Kanebo Cosmetics and cut its annual forecast.

REUTERS